Happy National Bike to Work Day

As the spring weather is upon us, more and more people are taking to their bicycles to get to work. Bike commuting reduces pollution and promotes health and well-being by incorporating active outdoor time into the workday.  In the Obama Administration, that’s something we encourage.

Last year, some innovative Federal employees in Portland and Seattle decided to challenge each other during the month of May to increase the number of riders in their community.  As part of the White House’s GreenGov Spotlight Community Initiative, we worked with those innovative leaders and challenged the rest of the Federal government to the Federal Bike to Work Challenge for May 2013. All across the nation, Federal employees are straddling their bikes and achieving some exceedingly impressive results.

There are currently 148 Federal teams and 1,097 riders, of which 260 are new bike commuters. We’re only halfway through May and already these riders have logged 66,000 miles, and more than 5,000 rides commuting to and from work. The Executive Office of the President, with 9 teams made up of 72 riders, has already commuted over 2,644 miles by bike.

As the Federal Environmental Executive, I am proud of these teams that are reducing pollution and becoming healthier in the process as we burn not gasoline but calories instead.  We hope to continue the growing momentum. Happy National Bike to Work Day!

Learn More about the GreenGov Spotlight Communities: http://www.epa.gov/fgc/spotlight/index.html

Jon Powers is the Federal Environmental Executive.